The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Citrus reticulata herein referred to as ‘Tift3-46’.
The new Citrus reticulata is a product of a planned research, evaluation, and testing program conducted by the Inventors in Tifton, Ga. The objective of the Citrus reticulata research program is to create a new plant cultivar with reduced seed production. This cultivar is commercially important for its low seed production. These and other qualities are enumerated herein.
Pedigree and history: ‘Changsha’ tangerine (non-patented) is an old Chinese cultivar that has been grown by amateur citrus growers in backyards for more than 75 years across the southern half of the Coastal Plain in the United States. It will reliably grow without protection to the northern border of US Hardiness Some 8b. It has been reported that ‘Changsha’ is hardy to −15° C. It will grow further north with freeze protection. ‘Changsha’ produces a tasty and juicy fruit with many seeds; the seeds being the main complaint about this cultivar. Years ago before all of the quarantine regulations, gardeners from Louisiana to North Carolina brought fruit yearly to the Southeastern Citrus Expo (a part of the Southern Palm Society). Our objective on this project was to produce a cultivar with a reduced number of seeds in each fruit in hopes that this cultivar would be more widely used in backyard gardening.
On Jan. 14, 2003, we irradiated seeds of ‘Changsha’ tangerine harvested from a tree (established from seed) growing in one of the inventor's yards since 1976. Seeds were removed from the fruit and immediately irradiated with 25 Kr of gamma radiation. These irradiated seeds were planted in large pots in a greenhouse. Individual seedlings resulting from these planted seeds (when about 8 cm tall) were transplanted to 10 cm pots. In June 2003, 125 seedlings from irradiation were transplanted to a test field on 3.05 m center to center spacing. These trees began producing fruit in 2006. In 2007, we began cutting fruit systematically from around each tree, looking for seedless chimeras. We identified ‘Tift3-46’ (row-plant) in December 2007 and began evaluating its fruit characteristics. We began grafting and budding ‘Tift3-46’ in January 2008 in Tifton, Ga. onto Poncirus trifoliata (non-patented) rootstock and planting trees in the field in April 2008 thru 2015. Scion was taken from various branches of this ‘Tift3-46’ tree to make sure buds reproduced true to type for the reduced seed characteristic.
Asexual reproduction of the new Citrus reticulata ‘Tift3-46’ by vegetative propagation (budding and grafting) in Pavo, Ga., Tifton, Ga., and Marshallville, Ga. in 2013, 2014, and 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Citrus cultivar are stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations.